exercising and being a stay at home mom

They say you need an hour of exercise a day at least to stay healthy along with eating right. But between chores and baby how do you exercise? Well when the baby is a newborn as long as you eat healthy you should only worry about doing 20 minutes of yoga a day and don't worry about losing the baby weight just yet. You're a new mom it's ok to have a little pouch for the first year. But once your baby can entertain her/himself it's ok to start working out. One way is to do chores while baby naps and exercise in their room while they play. Another way if you take baby to the park you can do stretches on the way their and cardio while s/he plays with the other children. personally I get my chores done while she plays in the living room, but I'm lucky enough to have an open kitchen so I can see her playing from every room in my house. Some moms cook dinner while baby naps and have baby follow and play in the rooms they are working in. Laundry is still a process I was doing it when she went to bed. But I cloth diaper and want to sun them and she wakes up so early it's hard to get it done before she wakes up. My laundry room isn't very baby friendly so I have to get laundry done before dad goes to work so he can watch her for me. once chores are done, I've read her a story and put her down for a nap i do 30 minutes of cardio I get other other 30 minutes done in yoga before bed after she goes to bed.I haven't kept track of how much I've lost but my pants do feel looser. It's all about balance you can do it and you will feel great about yourself when you bring balance to your life.

Naps

So Tsula is 1 now and you're supposed to cut them down to one nap a day. Well I'm not doing that I tried and all i got was a cranky baby. Instead of one 1 hour nap, she gets two 30 minute naps. She is  much happier now. Some days she only takes 15 minute naps or just a one hour nap. But I let her tell me when she needs a nap or she goes automatically when she gets mean. :p 

Alone with baby

So today is the first day I'm home alone with 3 dogs and a baby as my husband is back to work. So first thing was feeding the baby then set up a barrier so she can play in the living room while I ate and did the dishes. After shooing her back in to the several times I turned on the xbox and put on peep and the big wide world. This kept her entertained long enough for me to finish the dishes clean the kitchen, let all the dogs out, and make her lunch. While she ate lunch I cleaned the living room. Once her lunch was done we read a quick story and then played in her room for a little bit before mom got tired and put her down for a nap. now the baby is napping and I'm debating between cooking myself lunch or napping myself. When she wakes up I will give her a snack and let her play in the living room. I dont have anything else to do besides dinner today tomorrow I have to add laundry into my chores.

I think I'm crazy

I'm so tired and haven't had a good night's sleep in a while. I've been going to bed late after finishing chores that didn't get done while Tsula was napping. I'm up early because Tsula insists everyone must be up if she is. I'm so sick of kid shows and I finally got rid of my baby weight. However now that Tsula is one I find myself wanting another baby! I'm crazy right? I'm drained as it is and I don't have enough diapers to cloth diaper TWO babies. We don't have enough for me to have a birthday cake on Wednesday yet I still think about having another little one to cuddle and love. I have to be crazy right how can I want a new baby when I'm barely keeping up with the one I have? I'm so thankful my husband is reasonable and makes me see why right now is not the right time but that desired is still there.

Swearing

So my loving husband was reading to our sweet little daughter yesterday. When he said "there's a boat in Dora's backpack". When our daughter heard this she exclaimed "What the FUCK a BOAT!" Of course my husband instantly started laughing and i was frozen not knowing wether to be mad she said it or proud she used ut right. Well i just ignored it until this morning when she looked at her dad and pointed "bish". I assume she was trying to say bitch which again she used it somewhat right but not sure how to deal with it. Honestly I don't want her to grow up thing words have power that they don't but I also don't want her to be hurtful with what she says. So i've let my husband take over this because i have no idea how to teach her that intent is what's important not the word itself.

Running around

As she gets better at walking my baby wants to run around all the time. The only problem is she 1 so she hasn't learn what she can play with and where she must walk. So needless to say I'm not comfortable letting her walk around the store. And I can't always follow her around so she gets mad when i stick her in the playpen while i cook or clean. She's down to one nap a day and it's only a 1.5 hour nap do i don't get enough time to get everything done at that time (we are a family of 3 adults 3dogs  and a baby so lots of dishes to clean and living room mess). So she is in the process of learning she can't always play where she wants to. I've tried lettingher play on the kitchen floor while I do dishes. But that lead to her hitting me with the broom. And even if that would have worked her playing on the floor while i cook is way too dangerous. Plus she doesn't always stay in the kitchen she will run off and try to play with the toilet. She is trying to grow up too fast and it makes me sad! But right now I'm glad she self feeds sometime so while i cook for the adults or i'm cleaning she can be in her chair snacking. A great thing about the kitchen and living rooom being together (separated by a bar like counter) she can be in the living room watching doc mcstuffin while i cook or clean and if she chokes i can hear her right away! Thankfully it has never happened so far. Beside our wolf-shepard would come and get me if something was wrong. Our dogs know not to be near the baby's high chair but they watch her from a distance to make sure she's safe. They also know not to go i to her room or play with her without me or dad but they are always close enough to alert me if something is wrong. (It helps when your husband trains service animals for a living) over all my baby is growing too fast!

Mama Cloth (TMI alert not too bad tho)

So I cloth diaper during the daytime and I've started using mama cloth (well I started a last year). I've been using mama cloth made by Mama Bee Creation and myself with a minky top and in an all-in-two design. (minky top cotton or bamboo and fleece core snap in liner and a PUL wrapped in printed cotton that snaps around you undies) I love them and I haven't had a rash since switching (I did with disposables). Some mom's fear switching to cloth pads because they think they will be more noticeable or bunch up and move around. I can tell you when they are designed right they don't do any of that. I love them and I wash them with my baby's diapers and they get clean. Some people think it's unsanitary but period blood is more sterile than poop! If a liner is designed too small (like my first homemade one) they might move out of the way on a heavy flow day. If they are designed too wide (my second attempt) they might feel uncomfortable and turn on you. However when they are designed right (name brands and my latest attempt) they are actually more comfortable than disposable pads and are sometimes slimmer but they are no more noticeable than disposables. Some people use newborn socks (one stuffed in another and a ribbon sewn in for pulling out) as reusable tampons. I have not tried this method but my roommate has and she hasn't had any issues except she gets nervous and changes often because she's heard of people getting too comfortable and getting sick. She hasn't gotten sick herself but she's and herbalist so she's always cautious. Anyways I love cloth pads they are healthy, green, clean and comfy unlike disposables. Mama Bee Creations mama cloths are cost effective, (I can't speak for any other brand as I haven't tried them I will make a post for them when I get the chance to try them).

Cranky bossy boots

So she has become a real crank butt, and thanks to daddy says "now bish" with her very limited vocabulary (doc says though her speeh is slower than average she is still developing normally as far as he can tell) and calls us mean if we don't give in to her demands right away. Naturally yelling is rewarded by alone time which really makes her more mad for a moment before she calms down. Once calm we play for a little before snack or meal time. However sometimes her demands are reasonable so we correct how she asks for example poopy diapers we tell her no yelling say poopy and we point to the diaper, when she's hungry we say hungry and do the sign for eat. She is learning she will stop screaming and sign when hungry or say gee when we ask why she's mad, though sometimes she means thristy and gets mad when I bring her a snack by mistake. She seems to be learning gestures and sign language much faster than actual words. She is also running now so that's fun too haha. We are starting to change her routine to a more strict one and might be going back to 2 naps a day because 1 is making her too cranky so she's not ready to go down a nap.

Temper Tantrum

So Tsula has started throwing temper tantrums. So I've started ignoring her during those moments and it seems to work. She gets confused and signs then of course I give her a hug and kiss and we go back to whatever we were doing. These are the tantrums at home though. I have been lucky that she hasn't thrown a tantrum while shopping yet. Hopefully she will learn tantrums don't get you anything before she tries on in the store.

gDiapers Flushable Liners

These liners are thick and a bit rough it feels like I'm sticking a heavy duty
paper towel (like auto towels) by her bum. I find that if I rinse the liner a couple times it is softer and still does the job. Although rinsing them shrinks them a little bit each time. Sometimes when I knock the poop into the toilet it will fall off the liner so I handwashed it with mild detergent and air dry it and it's still pretty strong. Honestly though I much prefer the Bummis flushable liners because Bummis are slimmer and softer. However, the gDiaper liners can be used more often than the Bummis liners and are quite a bit cheaper.
Update: This liners, like toilet paper, leave a pilly layer in between baby's folds once wet. I will not be buying them again. This film on the skin it annoy to remove and needs a little force to remove much more than I'd like even with a very wet wipe. I would not recommend

Funky fluff bamboo system

I have been using the funk fluff bamboo systems for nap time. I dont find their liners to be as absorbant as I would like even doubled up so for naptime I use a different liner with the heavy duty soaker. The diaper cover is very stylish and fits well. The lining does hold on to stains more than the microfleece alternative. Bottomline, I like diaper but the liners are not my favorite. The extra channel around the legs is my favorite thing about this daiper.

Charlie banana soap

I've been using Charlie banana soap the last few washes and I must say I like it! The only problem with staining I've had is on my Applecheeks bamboo wipes but they stain no matter what soap I use. My washing routine is a cold rinse, hot wash after the spin i pull out the covers and hang to dry, then the liners go for one more rinse before a medium dry. You don't have to do the extra rinse but I find that the extra rinse help get rid of deep staining without it I have minor staining on the liners. Another tip I've gotten to prevent staining is to sun dry but with hemp liners and some cotton ones they become stiff sundrying. But that's my washing routine. Thank you for reading

Cloth diapering

So I've gone back to cloth diapering now that we have a washing machine again. Tsula has started to get fussier and fussier during changes now! I have all pocket covers but I dont always use them that way. My liner consists of prefolds, flats, doubles and liners in all kinds of fabrics except wool. I haven't gotten my hands on any wool liners yet. I've also started making my own cloth diapers. However, at night time I use disposables because she is an extremely heavy wetter! I've tried everything except wool and when I say everything I mean EVERYTHING. At naptime i stuff a folded bamboo flat in the pocket use a cotton doubler and a gerber prefold. She naps for 2-3 hours and usually wakes up pretty soaked but no leaks. (Well no leaks yet). Today while Tsula is napping I'm going to post somethings about cloth diapering.

Sick husband

So my husband caught whatever our dauggter had so needless to say I'm pretty much on my own. Luckily our daughter is much better making things a little easier however i overslept today so she's mad at me. It's not fun dealing wuth all the house work, the three dogs and the baby. But someone has to do it I'm just hoping that whatever they caught I haven't caught because I have an immunity to it. Haha or that it at least waits until my husband is better! Just in case I'm deinking plenty of peppermint echinacea tea to keep my immune system strong!

Virus

SO I had to go through something NO mother wants to go through with their baby. My little girl got a really bad virus that's going around and we spent a week in the hospital. They had her on an IV and she was refusing to eat she has very bad diarrhea (more like poop water) and vomited a few times. I was so proud of how brave she was was she hated blood work (who doesn't) but she never tried to take off or mess with her IV. The IV was in a splint to keep her from accidentally pulling or bending it. This splint kept her from bending her arm but she very quickly adjusted to only have one arm free. We are now at home and back to cloth diapering and she is healthy again. Unfortunately my husband caught whatever she had. He isn't too bad spending most of the day on the toilet or sleeping in between eating soup, toast and drink Gatorade. He's been taking herbal remedies to help boost his immune systems and hopefully he will be over it before it catches me.